Originally published on CodingCush .

To choose a good WordPress theme, look past the pretty demo and check nine practical things: whether it is updated regularly, has solid reviews, loads fast, works on phones, is compatible with your WordPress version and main plugins, comes with real support, uses clean and safe code from a trusted source, can be customised without code, and fits your site's actual purpose. A theme is the design your visitors live in for years, so thirty careful minutes now will save you months of regret later.

Why the Demo Page Is a Trap

Every theme is sold with a gorgeous demo: professional photography, perfect fonts, content arranged like a magazine. It is the showroom car with the polished paint. But your site will not contain those photographs — it will contain your logo, your slightly blurry product photos and your real, imperfect text. Many "ugly site" problems are really "beautiful demo, ordinary content" problems.…